We have a lot of dried potatoes on hand in case of apocalypse, zombie or otherwise. Tonight Will made kick ass potato soup with it.
instant mashed potatoes
water
soy milk
plain almond milk
curry powder
hot sauce
salt
stir fry sauce
butter
creole seasoning
pancake syrup
wing sauce
Basically, mix it all together until it is the right consistency and heat it up. I can't help you on the amounts, sorry. And yes, some of it sounds weird or gross, but it comes out deliciously, truly.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Falafel. Yah.
I'm starting to cook more often. Yay! Tonight I made falafel. It was incredibly great. Superlatives are my thang.
Max just said, "That was the best falafel I've ever had. It was the perfect combination of crispy and moist. Most falafel is unbearably dry." Moist was exactly the right adjective, we didn't even wince when he said it.
1 package extra firm tofu, drained
2- 15 oz. cans chickpeas, drained
1 small onion
1 egg
big handful of cilantro (puh-leeze wash the sand out!)
the spice must flow- tumeric, chili powder, creole seasoning, Madras curry powder (ya, ya, weird mix- I didn't have any cumin or black pepper), dried parsley, dried oregano
sea salt
baking powder
Srirachi
1-2 cups panko bread crumbs
Pulse everything except the tofu and bread crumbs in a food processor until it is super, duper smoove. You can add the tofu if your machine is big enough, but mine isn't. So I mixed it in by hand in a big bowl, then mixed in the bread crumbs. Spray a big baking sheet with the spray stuff & preheat your oven to 400. Use a big soup spoon and scoop out the mixture into your hand, then form it in a ball and plop it on the pan. Leave a little room between the balls, then smoosh them all flattish. Bake them for awhile, then flip them over when they are brown on the bottom. They are done when they are brown and taste right.
Serve them in warm pita bread with chopped tomatoes, lettuce, marinated artichoke hearts and tzatziki (ask William to make it- he did such a wonderful job).
For dessert, we had the BEST THING EVER!!! It was Bean's idea, plus he even got it ready for us. Vanilla ice cream with butter flavored pancake syrup (don't ask why we had it in the house... OK, it was because I made frozen waffles with fake syrup & veggie sausage one day, OK? OK?! Stop judging me! They were great!)
Max just said, "That was the best falafel I've ever had. It was the perfect combination of crispy and moist. Most falafel is unbearably dry." Moist was exactly the right adjective, we didn't even wince when he said it.
1 package extra firm tofu, drained
2- 15 oz. cans chickpeas, drained
1 small onion
1 egg
big handful of cilantro (puh-leeze wash the sand out!)
the spice must flow- tumeric, chili powder, creole seasoning, Madras curry powder (ya, ya, weird mix- I didn't have any cumin or black pepper), dried parsley, dried oregano
sea salt
baking powder
Srirachi
1-2 cups panko bread crumbs
Pulse everything except the tofu and bread crumbs in a food processor until it is super, duper smoove. You can add the tofu if your machine is big enough, but mine isn't. So I mixed it in by hand in a big bowl, then mixed in the bread crumbs. Spray a big baking sheet with the spray stuff & preheat your oven to 400. Use a big soup spoon and scoop out the mixture into your hand, then form it in a ball and plop it on the pan. Leave a little room between the balls, then smoosh them all flattish. Bake them for awhile, then flip them over when they are brown on the bottom. They are done when they are brown and taste right.
Serve them in warm pita bread with chopped tomatoes, lettuce, marinated artichoke hearts and tzatziki (ask William to make it- he did such a wonderful job).
For dessert, we had the BEST THING EVER!!! It was Bean's idea, plus he even got it ready for us. Vanilla ice cream with butter flavored pancake syrup (don't ask why we had it in the house... OK, it was because I made frozen waffles with fake syrup & veggie sausage one day, OK? OK?! Stop judging me! They were great!)
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Yay! Ginger banana chicken!!
It's been awhile since I posted something, because the day after my last post, I went bye bye to the hospital. Since then, the last thing I cared about was posting recipes for the internet. Which I'm pretty sure nobody reads.
Anyway, earlier today I was feeling mopey and made some pig bacon. Like, whoa. I forgot how good that terrible stuff is. So then the pan sat there all day with that poor pig's fat in it, and tonight I decided to cook some chicken in it (it's a free-for-all death for animals day).
I cooked skinless chicken thighs (bone in) on medium/high until they were brown. That happened really fast and they got super awesome brown, which never seems to happen with just olive oil.
I remembered I have a huge piece of ginger, so I grated a big pile. Then I saw our sad pile of clementines that were getting all wonky and dry. Only one was actually bad, so I juiced the rest (um, 6?) and put the ginger in it.
Then I poured it all over the chicken and recovered it with the splatter thingie. I left it alone for awhile, then decided on a whim to chop up a banana and throw that in. I turned the chicken over and squished it around to get coated and mix up the sauce, then left it for awhile longer. I really have no idea how long this all took. However long it takes to cook four bone in chicken thighs, I guess.
Once I decided they were cooked enough, I ate them. They needed some salt sprinkled on, but other than that, they were delicious!! I'll bet they would have been great with some beans&rice or platanos and salad, but I didn't care about that. I just wanted to eat.
Anyway, earlier today I was feeling mopey and made some pig bacon. Like, whoa. I forgot how good that terrible stuff is. So then the pan sat there all day with that poor pig's fat in it, and tonight I decided to cook some chicken in it (it's a free-for-all death for animals day).
I cooked skinless chicken thighs (bone in) on medium/high until they were brown. That happened really fast and they got super awesome brown, which never seems to happen with just olive oil.
I remembered I have a huge piece of ginger, so I grated a big pile. Then I saw our sad pile of clementines that were getting all wonky and dry. Only one was actually bad, so I juiced the rest (um, 6?) and put the ginger in it.
Then I poured it all over the chicken and recovered it with the splatter thingie. I left it alone for awhile, then decided on a whim to chop up a banana and throw that in. I turned the chicken over and squished it around to get coated and mix up the sauce, then left it for awhile longer. I really have no idea how long this all took. However long it takes to cook four bone in chicken thighs, I guess.
Once I decided they were cooked enough, I ate them. They needed some salt sprinkled on, but other than that, they were delicious!! I'll bet they would have been great with some beans&rice or platanos and salad, but I didn't care about that. I just wanted to eat.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Choly challah!
OK, so we thought that making bread pudding with eggnog was the best idea ever. Then I thought, ooh, we should make it with challah bread! That is also a great idea, but both those ideas were superseded when we added a meringue topping to the challah eggnog bread pudding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yow.
1 loaf challah bread, cubed
6 egg yolks
eggnog (mmm, about 32 ounces?)
meringue (look in the recipe for explanation)
Put the cubed challah bread in a 9 x 13 baking pan and put in the oven set at 250 until it's a bit dried out. Whisk the egg yolks with the eggnog (add some sugar if you want it sweeter, and maybe some vanilla if you like), and pour over the bread in the pan. Using your hands, squish the bread down into the liquid, pressing it until it flattens a little. Pop it back in the oven with a cover for about 30-45 minutes.
While it bakes, set out to make the toffee meringue cookies (previous recipe), but accidentally get some egg yolk into the whites. Then decide that it will probably be fine and all that information about how egg whites won't beat to stiff peaks if there is even a tiny bit of yolk in them is a bunch of hooey. Follow the recipe exactly, and start getting a little worried when the whites aren't quite beating to stiff peaks. Add the sugar and vanilla anyway. Watch as the egg whites dissolve back into almost a liquid form.
Walk away and think about this for a minute (or keep reading this and discover a world of wonder!).
Realize that maybe you should go ahead and pour the meringuey stuff over the bread pudding (which is almost completely set at this point) and see what happens. Leave the lid off and let it bake for awhile longer.
After you put the kids to bed and remember that you left the bread pudding in the oven, go back and find out that the meringue has puffed up into a beautiful brown wonder! Call in the older kids and show them. Hear the accolades, take a bow, and try the bread pudding, which ends up tasting like the world's best french toast.
But you have to let it cool and put it in the fridge for the morning, because everyone it too full to eat it now.
1 loaf challah bread, cubed
6 egg yolks
eggnog (mmm, about 32 ounces?)
meringue (look in the recipe for explanation)
Put the cubed challah bread in a 9 x 13 baking pan and put in the oven set at 250 until it's a bit dried out. Whisk the egg yolks with the eggnog (add some sugar if you want it sweeter, and maybe some vanilla if you like), and pour over the bread in the pan. Using your hands, squish the bread down into the liquid, pressing it until it flattens a little. Pop it back in the oven with a cover for about 30-45 minutes.
While it bakes, set out to make the toffee meringue cookies (previous recipe), but accidentally get some egg yolk into the whites. Then decide that it will probably be fine and all that information about how egg whites won't beat to stiff peaks if there is even a tiny bit of yolk in them is a bunch of hooey. Follow the recipe exactly, and start getting a little worried when the whites aren't quite beating to stiff peaks. Add the sugar and vanilla anyway. Watch as the egg whites dissolve back into almost a liquid form.
Walk away and think about this for a minute (or keep reading this and discover a world of wonder!).
Realize that maybe you should go ahead and pour the meringuey stuff over the bread pudding (which is almost completely set at this point) and see what happens. Leave the lid off and let it bake for awhile longer.
After you put the kids to bed and remember that you left the bread pudding in the oven, go back and find out that the meringue has puffed up into a beautiful brown wonder! Call in the older kids and show them. Hear the accolades, take a bow, and try the bread pudding, which ends up tasting like the world's best french toast.
But you have to let it cool and put it in the fridge for the morning, because everyone it too full to eat it now.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Puffed rice cookies.
My wicke't awesome elderly friend Scott keeps telling me about these cookies, that they are really good, and good for you ("...except for the sugar, of course..."). I haven't made them yet, but I did get to have one at his house last year, and it was yummy. We will be making them this week...
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2/3 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups puffed rice
How to:
Mix the flour and baking powder together in a little bowl. Melt the butter & set aside to cool. In another, bigger bowl, beat the sugar, vanilla, and eggs super well. Add the butter & stir some more. Add the flour mix and stir it up. Stir in the puffed rice, then drop by spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet & bake for about 8-9 minutes at 375. Then yummy crunch and munch them all up!
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Toffee meringue cookies.
Yes. Toffee, meringue. Yes. So good. Cookies. Yum.
We got the recipe from the All Recipes website, but changed it a little. Of course. Like how we made a trillion cookies, so tripled the recipe, and stuff.
We got the recipe from the All Recipes website, but changed it a little. Of course. Like how we made a trillion cookies, so tripled the recipe, and stuff.
The stuff:
6 egg whites (separating eggs is really easy-- save the yolks for making custard or maybe bread pudding!)
1 1/2 cup sugar (we used organic Florida Crystals)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 TB vanilla extract
1 cup Heath Bar crunchy bits from a bag
The how:
Preheat the oven to 250 & cover your cookie sheets with parchment paper. Parchment paper rawks. I love parchment paper, and even forgive it for always trying to roll itself back up.
In your stand mixer (because you have a stand mixer if you like to cook, and if you don't, go steal one) beat the egg whites up until they yell "Uncle!" at which point they will be stiff and dry. We yelled at them some first, because you're s'posed to yell at someone yer beating up, according to William. Toss the cream of tartar in while you're beating them, it will humiliate them even more.
Now turn the mixer to low and slowly start adding the sugar, and at some point in the midst of this, also the vanilla extract. Then beat the hell out of the mixture some more until it is poofy and glossy. Sprinkle the Heath Bar crunchies on top, and fold them in.
Use two spoons to scoop and plop-- the second spoon will be useful to get that sticky stuff off the first one and shape them into little lumpy things. You can get fancy if you like, but I prefer free form meringues. Because they are easier and look less pretentious. Pretentious looking cookies never taste as good. Plus sometimes they even taste kind of like some florally soap or something.
Anyway, each one should be somewhere between the size of an acorn and the size of a ping pong ball. Too small and they will be dry and crumbly, too big and they will be too gooey and fall apart.
Put them in the oven and cook them for about 30-60 minutes. Yah, it's variable. Just keep checking them, and if they feel dry and are starting to get a little brown, they are prolly done. If you take them out too soon, that Heath Bar crunchy stuff will still be melty in the middle and they will fall apart. If you wait too long, they could be unbearably dry. Take them off the pan and cool them on a rack.
Now, while you are making these, you might see your muffin tin, the one for tiny muffins? And you might think, "Hey, I'll bet that would work perfectly for meringues! Just the right size and shape, and so much easier to dollop into..."
Don't. It doesn't work.
And then you will have 24 perfect meringues you can't get out of the tins, and you will have to let your son and husband scrape them out with a spoon. And then they will complain about feeling sick from too much sugar. But then they go back and do it again.
Store the meringues you don't eat right away in a sealed jar in your pantry. Not open, and not in the fridge. These little suckers suck up humidity like a mofo.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Spaghetti squash!! Yay!
Max hates fall because fall = squash. However, Max doesn't hate fall as much as he thinks, because not only did we get him liking pumpkin ("...except those chunks of pumpkin..."), but last night he loved the spaghetti squash I made.
Get this stuff:
1 spaghetti squash
1 jar spaghetti sauce
2 cups cooked chickpeas
grated mozzarella
crumbled feta
Make it like this:
Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds. Put it cut part down in a big baking dish with about 1-2 cups water. Bake at 350 until it is tender when you stick it with a knife.
Drain the water out of the pan (be careful! it's wicked hot!) and turn the squash over face up. Using a fork, scrape the squash halves until all the strands are loose-- if it's cooked well enough, it should come loose all the way down to the rind (skin? husk?). This part is really fun and makes everyone happy.
Pour spaghetti sauce over both halves, add half the chickpeas to each side, and stir it up to mix the sauce, chickpeas and squash. Sprinkle both halves with feta and mozzarella, and stick it back in the oven until it is all hot and the top is yummy and brown. Take it out, scoop some out, and eat it! Eat it with a delicious salad and garlic bread! Then breathe garlic breath on each other!
Get this stuff:
1 spaghetti squash
1 jar spaghetti sauce
2 cups cooked chickpeas
grated mozzarella
crumbled feta
Make it like this:
Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds. Put it cut part down in a big baking dish with about 1-2 cups water. Bake at 350 until it is tender when you stick it with a knife.
Drain the water out of the pan (be careful! it's wicked hot!) and turn the squash over face up. Using a fork, scrape the squash halves until all the strands are loose-- if it's cooked well enough, it should come loose all the way down to the rind (skin? husk?). This part is really fun and makes everyone happy.
Pour spaghetti sauce over both halves, add half the chickpeas to each side, and stir it up to mix the sauce, chickpeas and squash. Sprinkle both halves with feta and mozzarella, and stick it back in the oven until it is all hot and the top is yummy and brown. Take it out, scoop some out, and eat it! Eat it with a delicious salad and garlic bread! Then breathe garlic breath on each other!
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